Top Counterterrorism Official (and Known Extremist) Resigns Over Iran

One of President Trump’s most extreme, Nazi-sympathizing counterterrorism officials is leaving his post over the war on Iran.

National Counterterrorism Center director and former GOP congressional candidate Joe Kent announced his resignation, in a letter on X Tuesday morning.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” he captioned it.

Kent’s protest resignation is unprecedented for the Trump administration.

“In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars,” Kent wrote in his longer letter. “Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.”

Kent’s resignation highlights a major fault line between the anti-interventionist MAGA right wing—the Marjorie Taylor Greenes and Tucker Carlsons—and the more traditional neocons. Many of the former cheered on Kent’s focus on Israel as a primary catalyst for aggression, while the latter rejoiced at his departure.

“REAL COURAGE,” wrote extremist Steve Bannon acolyte Grace Chong. “This is what putting America first actually looks like.”

“The MAGA Coalition is shattered,” commentator Tim Pool chimed. “Trump can say ‘I AM MAGA’ all he wants, and it may be true, but lost support means MAGA is meaningless.”

“Good riddance. Iran has murdered more than a thousand Americans. Their EFP land mines were the deadliest in Iraq,” Republican Representative Don Bacon said. “Anti-Semitism is an evil I detest, and we surely don’t want it in our government.”

The White House has yet to comment.

Read Joe Kent’s full resignation letter here.